Step 4: You're Done

Step 5: Prevention

A couple final tips to keep it from re-pilling longer: Wash with Lanolin: Pick a woolen fabric wash (Eucalan or Kookaburra are both good brands) ...

A simple how-to for removing pills on your favorite sweater or piece of clothing with tools you already have at home.

Clothes of all types, sizes, shapes, and fibers have pilled for all of time and will continue to pill into the future. While it's true that some sweaters or other woven garments take longer (i.e. heavy merino wool) to pill than others (i.e. fine cashmere and fleece), given enough time, they will pill too. This is because all woven garments are comprised of fibers that have been twisted into yarn or material of some kind. As you wear your sweater, friction through use, breaks or loosens those fibers. Once the fibers are loosened or exposed, they can tangle and mat together creating the pilling we often see on our favorite sweater.

This Instructable will help you remove those pesky pills in several short and easy steps with a tool you already have in your home, so that you can keep sporting that favorite piece of clothing as long as you want.

Step 1: Materials

The technique is simple and so are the tools. Gather the following:

Clothing with Pills (I'm depilling a sweater)

Disposable Razor

That's it! Let's start removing those pills.

Step 2: Setting Up

Place your sweater on a flat surface. You want to pull the fibers as taut as you can without stretching your garment too much. You also want your piece of clothing oriented so that the pills are facing up and are on top of the flat surface.

I prefer to place the garment over my knee, since the fabric of my jeans usually steadies the knit fabric. You may also use an ironing board or table to lay your garment flat.